Imaginary Hellos
by agent000
Summary: Jack is told that in order to complete his Guardian training, he has to live among humans for a year to completely understand them. And so he finds himself living with the Bennetts, who all have mixed reactions to him being there. But it's all for the best, right? He sure hopes so.


_**Hello, everyone! I know, I'm writing a new story instead of finishing up Lullabies in the Frost. I apologize. I was trying to force myself to finish that one before writing anything else, and then I found myself unable to write at all. Until one of my friends, estuarymagicks on Tumblr, told me that sometimes a person can't write because they're trying to write the WRONG thing. Like, Lullabies in the Frost was the right thing to write before, and it probably will be again in the near future, but this silly little story has been bugging me for a while, so apparently it's the right thing for me to write right now. *chuckles***_

_**So basically, I'll probably be switching around from story to story a lot, because that's the only way I can be productive and write often. I'm better at writing than I used to be, so I think I'll be able to finish most of the stories I start. *fingers crossed***_

_**Also, keep in mind that I most likely won't be writing most of my chapters for this story this freakishly long. *chuckles* I normally have a 4k rule, but this one wanted to be 7k. *rolls eyes* Go figure. Well, whatever it wants, it wants. I won't tell the story no so long as I'm writing again.**_

_**Anyway, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy this silly little story. Forgive the writing quirks, as I'm just coming out of a long standing block. Hopefully it finally stays away this time. **_

_**Disclaimer: Ah, the disclaimer. Always such a source of amusement in the past because of the stupid things I would say in this space. *chuckles* Not sure what to say now, but I know that Jack doesn't want me to own him or anybody else because he has to be wild and free like Merida's hair, so yeah, I don't own Rise of the Guardians. And sorry for the looooooooooong author's note. It won't happen again in this story. Most likely.**_

Hello.

Such a simple word, isn't it? One doesn't think much of it, unless it is used by someone one would never expect to hear it from.

The whole ordeal began shortly after I was officially sworn in as a Guardian. I was approached by a couple of the other Guardians with serious expressions on their faces. Not a good sign. It's not that serious expressions are particularly bad, but I don't agree with seriousness. Seriousness is the epitome of evil, in my opinion. It had no place belonging on the face of a Guardian, so I stuck my fingers in my mouth and pulled a face to try and lighten the mood.

"Jack, this is serious!" said North. Apparently my attempt didn't work. Pity.

I straightened up to look at the old man. "Yeah? Well, what's up?"

North came and slapped me on the back, a gesture that catapulted me to Mars and back before I regained my footing. "Is time to start your training, yes?"

I shook my head. "W-What? Training?" As far as I'd known, I didn't need to know anything else about doing what I did. I was very good at bringing winter to the entire world by now, and I'd never lost my ability to have fun. Maybe I was going to get training on how to get people to see me? That could be nice. But if that required training, why hadn't they done it before when I was so desperate for it?

Before North could respond to my question, Tooth flew over and took up my field of vision. "Your Guardian training, Jack. We all had to go through it just after we became Guardians."

I couldn't think of anything ingenious to say to that, so I just settled on, "W-What?" That seemed good enough to me. It got the point across pure and clear, and was short and sweet. One could never improve on the stammered What.

It wasn't clear whether the others agreed on my choice of Whats or not, but North laughed at me then, so I assumed all was good. At least he stopped wearing his serious expression in my presence. If I was going to be a Guardian now, at least one thing had to be made perfectly clear: no serious faces in my presence. Not allowed. Never. Nope. Nuh huh.

"Is simple, Jack. You go and spend year among humans, then come back and take place as full fledged Guardian. Is good, no?"

The next few moments were spent doing some careful blinking exercises that I had artfully trained into myself to do at times such as these when I had no idea what else to do. It appeared that Tooth noticed my skillful blinking, and she interjected. "Jack, all you have to do is live with a human family for a year so that you can be properly sympathetic to humans."

Oh. Well, that explained everything. Or wait, no it didn't. I was just as confused as ever. "_Live _with a human _family_?" I ran my fingers anxiously through my hair. "How can I-? How would they even _see_ me?"

North simply responded to this by laughing again. Annoying old man. "You choose family. We fix problem." He then turned to his side and clapped twice, and a strange woman walked in who resembled a stereotypical stuck up secretary type, with glasses and the bun in her hair to match. Who was she? Could she see me?

"Jack Frost?" she said as she straightened her glasses and looked at me. Well, that answered that question. She could definitely see me. Maybe she wasn't mortal then, because I certainly couldn't understand why North would have dragged a random mortal woman to the North Pole anyway.

"Yes?" I said as I nodded. My genius brain couldn't come up with anything else to say, not even any derivative of What, so I just left it at that and hoped she had enough information to continue.

It seemed she did, because she gestured us both over to a nearby table, and I sat down opposite of her. She opened a folder and pulled out a stack of papers that had a picture of me clipped to the top of it. Funny. I didn't even realize I could photograph. You learned something new every day.

"I represent the Fae and Human Relations Society," she said, "And I received a call that you have an urgent need to spend some time understanding humanity to do your job properly."

I opened my mouth to respond, but instead of a What or even a Yes, what came out was a sort of choke that almost sounded like, "Gah?" She made a funny face at me that made me realize I wasn't communicating effectively, and I decided to just let things be and not try to say any more Whats until I absolutely needed them, serious face on the strange lady or no.

Strange Lady then handed me a large binder and said, "This is the list of every family that has consented to participate in the program. Now go through that list and pick a family you would esteem to be suitable to your needs."

I regarded the lady with a quirked eyebrow and a wary eye as I prepared another What. "What? No magic? What kind of fae company are you?"

She took off her glasses and regarded me seriously. "We tone down the magic usage to be more accessible to the mortals who use our services. Does the lack of magic bother you, Mr. Frost?"

That question had never entered my mind, honestly, and I wasn't sure what the answer was, so I just stared stupidly at her, hoping an answer would magically come. Or at least a What. Whats were my best friends today, and I would welcome one showing up right then with open arms.

It seems I'd stared too long at her, because she just rolled her eyes and sighed, then drew a circle in the air with her index finger and the binder magically poofed into an ancient looking magical text. Much more to my liking, as I was becoming rather accustomed to these things what with all the time I spent here at the Pole.

"Cool," I said flatly, very unsure of how I wanted to react to this, "So how do I search through this thing without reading every page?" She gave me another funny look, and I cowered away from her stare, but didn't back down on this one. What I didn't want to admit was that reading was still a bit of a challenge for me, as I had never actually learned to read while I was human before. I hadn't gotten a chance to study it until I started snooping on Jamie's homework, and the kid discovered I couldn't read and decided to remedy that then and there. It had been a couple years since then, and I was now capable of reading, but not very quick with it, and reading an entire tome didn't strike me as very pleasurable.

"Mr. Frost, do you understand nothing of how the fae operate on a normal basis?" I stared at her, willing for a What to come and save my life, but the What was too shy and stayed in my throat. She sighed and said, "In this form, the book runs on telepathy. Send it an impression of what type of family you would like to stay with, or where, and it will show you what it has to offer."

"Oh," I said, and blinked some more, not sure how else to respond. I certainly wasn't about to tell her that my telepathy sucked about as much as my reading ability. That would just be embarrassing. But at least I wouldn't have to spend as much time doing either one if I just tried my hand at the telepathy thing and got a result quickly.

I stared at the book, and the book stared back at me. I was sure it was laughing. It was a nasty, evil book, bent on the destruction of one known as Jack Frost. Oh, yes, I saw its ploy, and the evil book was going down. Just as soon as I figured out how to read the little sucker.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on the book. And focused. And focused. And focused some more... until the book flew off the table and hit the wall. Oops. That was slightly stupid of me. I had meant to use telepathy, not telekinesis. Heck, I hadn't even realized I _could_ use telekinesis. There were a lot of fae things I was going to have to understand before too long if I was ever to be accepted into the group.

"Mr. Frost, I would appreciate if you didn't damage the Society's property," said Strange Lady as she daintily picked up the book, brushed it off, and laid it back down in front of me. I gave a sheepish apology, then did my best to relax and try again.

She must have noticed my struggling, because her tone suddenly took on a much kinder tone. "Just take it one step at a time. Think of the country you would like to stay in." Well, that was easy. I was an American, or considered myself one. I preferred to not have to deal with culture shock on top of everything else, so America it was.

"Now narrow it down," she said, "think of the part of the country you'd like to live in." Still easy. The Northeast. Possibly Pennsylvania, so that I could at least be close to what I knew.

"And then the city," she said, but she interrupted me before I could go on. "The city you think of may not have anyone in it who has signed up to this program, so keep your mind open and let the book find people nearby." That was fair enough, and I nodded and thought of my hometown. It would be wonderful if there was someone in or near Burgess so that I could really feel at home for a year if I honestly had to do this.

I felt a sort of ping in my head at that, and I opened my eyes to see that the book had flipped open to a listing, and I quickly scanned over it to glean whatever information I could before I actually started sounding out the words. I instantly recognized the name of Burgess in the person's address, and I bounced joyfully in my seat a few times at my luck. Someone who lived in Burgess had actually signed up for this program. I wouldn't have to venture out of my comfort zone at all.

As I began trying to sound out the names in the listing, Strange Lady interrupted me with, "Have you found a suitable family?"

I looked up at her stupidly, then back down at the book, and then back to her. I didn't want to admit that I hadn't actually read the listing yet. I was the only Guardian whose reading skills weren't quite up to par, and it was terrible trying to admit this to anyone, so I simply nodded and shoved the book at her as I pointed to the listing and said, "This one." What harm could it do? At least it was a family close to home, and they believed enough in the fae to sign up to the program.

Strange Lady straightened her glasses as she looked over the listing. "Susan Bennett and family? Are you sure? I believe you have had a history with his family."

A What tried to make a break for it out of my mouth, but I bit down hard on it and imprisoned the little sucker in my mouth. It was not allowed to let Strange Lady know that I was so unsure of myself. I nodded and said a weak and high pitched, "Yes!" As expected, she gave me a funny look over that, so I cleared my throat and uttered a much lower, "Um, yes."

"Very well," she said, and she handed me a couple pieces of paper. "If you could just sign here and here."

"Uhhh..." I said, partly because she hadn't handed me a pen, and partly because I had no idea how I should be writing out my name. It had never actually occurred to me that I might need to do this one day.

Strange Lady rolled her eyes and said, "They were right to call in about you. You really have too little experience to be a full fledged Guardian just yet." I was about to give her a thorough glaring while I conjured up the biggest what she'd ever seen, when she interrupted me once again. "You don't have to sign the way mortals do, Mr. Frost. Your magic is your signature. Affix a piece of your magic to the paper, and that will be suitable."

I blinked. "Oh." I wasn't sure what else to say, since the whole ordeal left me feeling pretty stupid, so I conjured up a couple snowflakes and stuck them onto the paper at the spots she'd told me to sign. Surprisingly, they stuck, and they didn't melt. Well, apparently this company thing did have a bit of magic in them after all, but they sure liked to pretend that they didn't. Weird.

"Very well," she said, "That's all we need." She stood up and began to gather up the paper, and I leaped to my feet.

"Wait, how am I supposed to get noticed there? I mean, Jamie and Sophie both believe in me, but I know for a fact that Mrs. Bennett doesn't."

"Don't worry, Mr. Frost. We have that covered. We will come and fetch you when it is time to go."

A lingering moment of uncertainty as I tried to figure out what she meant, followed by a flat, "Right." Another moment of uncertainty followed, and I said, "B-But what about my, uh... my coldness? How do we deal with that? Pennsylvania isn't constantly frozen."

She stopped packing things and turned to look at me. "I suppose you are right, Mr. Frost. That is not an issue that has ever come up before." She turned around to face North, who was apparently still standing there. The crazy guy must have been listening the whole time. "Do you think you have the means to concoct a way for him to stand the heat?"

"Is simple," said North, placing his hands on his belly as if to steady it, "We will find way to help Jack handle summer, eh?" And then he started laughing. I wasn't sure what was more annoying, Strange Lady being strange, or North being jolly. Both of them seemed equally awful.

"Very well," said Strange Lady as she readied herself to go. "Have your solution ready by the end of October. We will be ready for him then." She then turned and left, which was a relief to me. But then I turned and saw the glint of mischief in North's eyes, and I realized the strangeness had only just begun.

* * *

If I were to say the next few months were awkward, I would be lying from how understated that statement is. The next few months were, um... awkward. Okay, I don't know a better word for it, so sue me. Maybe if I describe it a bit, I can convey some of the awkwardness a bit better.

First, there was the matter of brainstorming a way to keep me cool in the summer heat, which North held no shame in dragging me into his office every day over, even though I had winter duties in the southern hemisphere. I had to rehash everything I had ever seen that kept things cool, and had gone through the same list every day for weeks before I let slip something about the doohickeys some people used to keep their laptops from overheating, and North leapt on that like a panther going for the kill. That intimidated me, but at least it meant no more rehashing lists.

Then there was the awkward moment of realizing that I couldn't live among humans and basically be an "exchange student" at the same time as being the spirit of winter, so I had to humbly go crawling to Mother Nature and ask if she would be willing to take over my duties for just one year while I undertook my training. She understood and accepted the position just the once, but I was mortified. She would never be able to do the job as well as I could, since I specialized in winter. Not to mention, Seraphina treated me like her little baby winter sprite, and that was always embarrassing to deal with.

Next came testing out all the prototypes that North came up with for ways to keep me cool. He would fasten whatever it was onto me and send me out to a hot region to test whether I could tolerate the effects or not. With the vast majority of his ideas, I had to turn tail and run back to the North Pole as soon as I'd hit the northern United States. It was hot there this time of year, and even though he wanted me to test his contraptions at the equator, there was no way I was going to be able to survive that far south until he came up with something better.

Then there was the ordeal of writing a letter to Mrs. Bennett, warning her that she was about to have company. I didn't want her to go unprepared, especially seeing as how the timing ensured that I would be arriving just before the holidays. However, I wasn't entirely trusting of my ability to write out an entire letter explaining the situation to her, so I confided my problems with reading and writing to Tooth, and she helped me to write out the letter and send it off. That was a relief to finally have a fellow Guardian understanding my reading and writing issues.

About mid-August, North finally gave me a prototype that could get me past the United States, and so he continued working on that model. He'd figured out that about the only way he could get me to stay consistently cool in the heat was to make me a suit out of the materials he was using to keep me cool, but he knew more than anyone that if it wasn't easy to move in, I wouldn't wear it. The trick was to keep it effective, but flexible, and North was gradually perfecting his technique. I had to give the guy credit. He was pretty ingenious to have gotten as far as he had on that thing.

Finally, the day came in late October when Strange Lady returned. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to see her show up again, since I didn't really understand her, but I pretended to grin and bear it. North handed me his perfected cooling suit which had successfully gotten me to the equator and back, though I could still feel the heat through it, so he recommended I stay out of the sun whenever I could. He then swept me up into a hug and planted a strong kiss on either cheek. Looking back at that, I wanted to hurl. But at the time I was too creeped out to even remember to hurl.

"Farewell, Jack Frost. We wish you good fortune on your year abroad."

He flopped me back down on the ground, and I staggered to regain my balance as I looked up at him and said, "Heh, yeah, thanks."

"Good luck, Jack!" said Tooth, waving at me from somewhere behind North. She flew up to me and gave me a sudden hug and a peck on the cheek, then flew off embarrassedly before I had a chance to react.

Next was Bunny's turn to see me off, and he stood in front of me as though not knowing how to speak. Perhaps I expected too much of the guy. He was a rabbit, after all. It was amazing that such a thing ever spoke. I laughed internally at my wit, but dared not speak my thoughts aloud. The rabbit in front of me would have killed me if he knew what I was thinking.

"Well, seeya, Frostbite." He shook my hand, then turned and hopped away silently. I blinked in surprise at his behavior, since that had not seemed like the Bunny I knew, when he turned around and said, "Now don'tcha be getting into any trouble, because I'm not gonna save ya." Without another word, he hopped off, out of sight. Now _that_ was the Bunny I knew.

I turned to Sandy, who gave me a nod and a thumbs up, and then I knew I was ready to roll. I took a deep breath as I turned back to Strange Lady, and I said, "Alright. I'm ready."

She nodded and North handed her one of his snowglobes, to which she whispered a destination that I didn't quite catch before shaking the snowglobe and throwing it down at our feet. As I'd expected, a portal erupted in front of us. I took this opportunity to turn one last time to the Guardians standing around us and wave to them. "Bye, guys, see you in a-urk!" Strange Lady had jerked me through the portal, and I didn't get the chance to finish what I had been about to say. Not that it was anything other than me stalling anyway.

As soon as we emerged from the portal, I recognized where we were. "This is the woods outside of Burgess," I said, "What are we doing here? The Bennetts live in town."

"True," said Strange Lady, "But you shouldn't switch between realms in a place where mortals might see you do it. It causes panic."

"Oh," I said. There was my old friend again, the Oh. Almost as close as the What. I wondered why we didn't just switch realms at the North Pole though. Why put an extra stop in the whole thing?

"Come this way," she said, and she led me deeper into the forest. "This is the day when the veil between the mortal realm and the fae realm is the weakest, and it is easiest to pass through, but we will have to work diligently to get you through now, as it is still daytime. But we must do this now, as humans fear strangers showing up in the dark." I nodded, completely understanding where that fear came from.

Once the forest was thick enough, the lady pulled out some sort of wand from her pocket and began chanting some sort of incantation of some sort or other. She droned on and on, and the sheer boringness of it just made me sleepy. The air before me began to warp, and I quirked my eyebrow at it, wondering what was happening.

After several minutes, a rip appeared in the air before me, and Strange Lady grabbed a hold of the... air? and pulled it open. "Quickly, Mr. Frost, go through the portal before it closes again. It will be difficult to pass through for another year." So, this thing counted as a portal? I shrugged. Oh well. Apparently I had to deal with this, whether I liked it or not, so I took a deep breath and launched myself through the portal thingy. I heard it close up the instant I passed through.

Turning around, I saw Strange Lady standing there and smiling. "Very good, Mr. Frost." She pointed off in the distance. "The town is that way. I believe you know where the Bennetts live, so I will let you go and introduce yourself since the portal closed too quickly for me to step through with you." I rolled my eyes and chuckled at this, since that sounded more like an excuse to me than anything else. What was preventing her from opening the portal a second time? It was still the same day. Maybe she was tired.

"Thanks," I said, and I turned toward town and started to kick off into the air, only to have her yell to me.

"Walk, don't fly! You're among mortals now, Mr. Frost. You have to act like one."

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Yes, Mommy," under my breath, but outwardly just nodded in response so that she wouldn't take offense. She seemed satisfied with that, and so she then vanished in a puff of smoke. So, she was allowed to travel via magical means, but I wasn't? I sulked the rest of the way to town, grumbling about how everybody in the fae realm was just picking on the little guy for the fun of it, but that the Guardian of Fun himself wasn't finding it all that fun.

One of the first things I noticed upon stepping into town was that it somehow seemed grayer than I'd remembered. All the colors I was used to seeing in town were still there, but something just... wasn't there at the same time. I couldn't place what was missing, but I wondered if this was a normal sight to humans. It had been so long since I'd been human, and my memories of being one were so fuzzy, that I wasn't entirely sure what humans normally saw. I was pretty sure though that the lack of the ethereal quality I was accustomed to in the fae realm would lead some people to thinking the world wasn't beautiful, unless one taught themselves how to see it. I was going to have to relearn a few things while in this realm.

Like not to step in the street without looking both ways, for example. I'd grown so used to people just ignoring me everywhere I went that I hadn't even questioned that there was a car coming my way as I tried to cross the street. The man leaned on the horn and shrieked at me to get out of the way as he swerved to the right and I leaped back the way I came, barely avoiding contact. Had he seen me? He must have, but how had he done so?

The man then stopped the car and stormed over to me. He looked at me very angrily and said, "Are you hurt?"

"I, uh... no!" I said, extremely confused about the confrontation I was having and jumping to my feet to try and regain what little dignity I had left.

"Well then, what do you think you were doing, jumping in front of my car like that? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"I, uh... I don't know."

"Well, pay attention next time, kid!" The man waved his hands in my face, and I blinked several times, hoping the blinks would convey my innermost thoughts in ways that my words were clearly not doing. "Next time you try crossing the street, look both ways to make sure no one's coming, okay?"

I nodded wordlessly. The man sighed and stormed off back to his car and drove off. I stared after him for several minutes before the adrenaline ran out and my knees gave way as I crumpled to the sidewalk in a shivering heap. That guy had seen me. Not only that, he had almost hit me with his car. That probably wouldn't have killed me, but it would have at least emotionally scarred me and would have given that man a much bigger fright than he'd already gotten.

The man had called me "kid". He didn't even know who I was. Was I visible to _everyone_ in the human realm now? I had to admit that that thought was a bit intimidating. As much as I loved people, I was used to being left alone, and suddenly being exposed to that many people at once was a scary concept.

I was interrupted in my musings when a lady approached me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay, son?"

I jumped at the contact and turned to face her. She'd called me son, which meant that she was another person who didn't recognize me. This was intimidating indeed. I scrambled to my feet and bowed to her. "I-I'm okay. Thank you. Just got tired and had to rest a minute, you know?" I laughed self consciously, hoping I hadn't made myself look too bad with anything I was doing now that I was in town. I certainly wasn't off to a very good start, and I feared it was only going to get worse.

She removed her hand from my shoulder and placed her arm across my forehead. "You're freezing, son. Let me get you to a doctor."

I stepped away from her and waved dismissively, hoping she'd get the idea that that was a no-go. "It's okay, I've already got that covered." Before she could think of a response to that, I turned and ran down the street toward the Bennetts'. Strange Lady had said no flying, which I understood why now, but she hadn't said no running. Running was a very human thing to do, and I was fully exploiting that skill at the moment.

I arrived at the Bennett house within about five minutes, which was probably record time for most humans, but incredibly slow for me, even for my running speed. I wasn't used to carrying a suitcase, but North had insisted I take one along to carry a few things he deemed important, and the heavy thing slowed me down. Still, I was at my destination, and I plopped the suitcase down on the front porch and breathed a sigh of relief as I rung the doorbell.

No one answered after a couple minutes, so I plucked up my courage and rung the doorbell again. Still no answer. I tried a third time. When the answer didn't come that time, I concluded that the Bennetts simply weren't home. Great. I supposed I couldn't blame them, since I hadn't known the exact day I was going to arrive and therefore hadn't been able to tell them. Hopefully they would be home soon.

I sat on the porch steps and waited. I supposed it wasn't too hot of a day by autumn standards, but to me it was scorching, and I'd wished I'd thought to put the cooling suit on before I left. I eyed the suitcase greedily, wondering if there was a way I could get away with putting the thing on without the neighbors seeing. Maybe I could sneak into the Bennetts' house and put the suit on, then come back out and wait like a nice little Jack?

Something told me that the neighbors were probably watching out for Mrs. Bennett, and that they would just blab on me and this would all end up in tears. So I just decided to bear it as best I could and hope it didn't become unbearable.

The sun beat down on my head, and I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead and rolling down my face. That wasn't a good thing. That was the first sign of melting, and I really needed to get out of the sun before it got worse, but where else could I sit? There really weren't any good shady spots on the Bennett property at this time of day, and I was getting mentally fatigued and loopy from the sun, so I could barely think anyway.

Thankfully, I didn't have to. Mrs. Bennett drove her car into the driveway right then, and I leapt to my feet, fully alert, even if not feeling perfect, and I strode up to meet her as soon as she emerged from the car.

"Mrs. Bennett?" I said, extending a hand for her to shake it if she wanted to, though she didn't seem to notice the hand, so I dropped it by my side after a while of it getting ignored.

"Oh," she said, sounding slightly disappointed at seeing me, "I'm sorry, but ever since my husband left, we can't afford to buy unnecessary things."

I blinked for a couple minutes, then realization set in and I started to laugh. "Wait, you think I'm a salesman?" That had to be the best joke I had ever heard in my life. Jack Frost the salesman. Now I'd heard everything.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said and laughed at her own stupidity. "Who might you be then?"

I scratched my head as I tried to remember what the stupid company thing was called. "I'm, uh... I was sent by the, uh... the, uh... Fae and Human... Relations Society... thing?" I chuckled awkwardly. "I think that was what it was called."

Now it was her turn to laugh again, but she seemed to understand a bit better. "Ah, that old thing. My little girl's birthday is next month. Maybe you could come back then? She loves fairies."

Mrs. Bennett then turned and started pulling groceries out of the car as she completely ignored me while I stood dumbfounded, trying to figure out what was going on. Come back next month? There was no way I could do that. I wouldn't be able to get back through the veil until next _year_, and so I had to stay with somebody during that time. I hadn't anticipated things going wrong on my end. Why hadn't Strange Lady just figured out how to accompany me and ensure everything went alright?

As Mrs. Bennett grabbed the last of the groceries and made her way to the house, it finally registered in my mind that she clearly didn't even know what this program was about. No wonder she had so willingly signed up to it when she didn't even believe in me. It made sense now. I shivered, wondering if she would still let me stay once I explained things. I sure hoped she would, because I didn't have anywhere else to go.

"Mrs. Bennett, wait!" I ran up behind her and slipped in the door just as she was about to close it. Perhaps that was slightly rude, but I needed a chance to explain things to her. "I-I don't think you realize what exactly you signed up for."

"Really?" she said, looking slightly annoyed at me having just run into her house without permission, but she chose not to say anything. Wise woman. "I thought you guys went around being fairies for kids' parties and things."

I slapped my palm across my face and sighed. This was going to take a lot of explanation. I hoped I could pull it off, but I was getting way too hot to even think, even while indoors. I needed to put my suit on. I grabbed my suitcase and said, "I'll explain it to you, but may I use your bathroom first?"

"Of course," she said, and she directed me as to where it was, and I hurriedly rushed to the bathroom and pulled off my clothes and pulled on the cooling suit. Instant relief flooded through me, and I felt like I wanted to nod off to sleep, but I knew I wouldn't have that luxury. Not for a while at least. I pulled my normal clothes back on over the suit and checked myself in the mirror. Not bad. One couldn't even tell that I was wearing anything under my normal clothes. The suit felt weird and gritty against my skin, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the feeling of overheating.

I reemerged from the bathroom and approached Mrs. Bennett who was busy putting her groceries away. She was the only one who knew where things went, so I couldn't very well offer to help, but I picked up a couple of the bags from the dining room table anyway and brought them over to her, just so that she knew I supported her.

"Thank you," she said as she took the bags.

I let out a breath and closed my eyes as I tried to think of how to phrase this. It was going to be hard no matter what, but I had to try. "This, uh, Society thing... it's basically an exchange program."

"Exchange program?" she said.

"Yeah, like exchange students?"

"Oh," she said, and nodded in understanding. "I hadn't realized that. Your information packet wasn't quite clear."

I scratched my head at that. The Society thing was indeed quite confusing. They probably didn't know very well how to communicate between the different races without confusing them all. "Then why would you sign up to it?"

She shrugged. "Probably because of all the pretty pictures of fairies. Sophie got very excited when she saw them and I didn't want her to get disappointed."

"Mmmm..." I said, and I crossed my arms and looked down at the floor. "It sounds like they've managed to thoroughly confuse us both."

"It seems so," she said with a frown, but then she turned to me and smiled. "But oh well. Why did they send you here today?"

Ouch. She still didn't get it. I guessed I was going to have to just come right out and say it. "They sent me here to be your exchange student... person... thing."

"Oh..." Mrs. Bennett's eyes went wide as she stared at me, and then she slowly began shaking her head as she turned away from me and continued putting away the groceries. "No no no, we can't afford to keep an exchange student right now."

I sighed and slumped down onto my suitcase. This situation was going from bad to worse. Why hadn't strange lady just accompanied me and smoothed things over for me? I shouldn't be having to do this much to try and fix the things they didn't think of. I hung my head. "I was afraid of that."

I sighed and stood up as I grabbed my suitcase. "I guess I'm just going to have to... come up with a plan B." I looked at her warily and shrugged. I didn't want to think badly of Mrs. Bennett. It wasn't her fault that the information packet had been confusing. It was natural that she would react like this to finding she had suddenly had this thing thrust on her when she wasn't prepared for it. I began to make my way to the door.

"Of course they'll give you another place to stay, right?" she said.

I stopped and turned to face her and shook my head. "I doubt it. I-I don't even know how to contact them until my year is up." I then tried to force a smile onto my face. "But I'll be fine. I'll think of something." I knew I could at least handle sleeping outside as I'd done it for centuries. The only challenge would be avoiding being seen while doing it now that everybody could see me.

"They won't give you another place to stay?!" She then sauntered over to me and wrestled my suitcase out of my hand and walked to a room nearby. I didn't know what she was doing, so I did the only thing I could think of and followed her into a bedroom.

"You'll just stay here until we get this sorted out, okay?" she said. I gulped and nodded, too shaken up for words. This was very unexpected behavior overall. First Mrs. Bennett didn't want me here, and then she did, but it was conditionally. I was just so confused.

She came over and patted me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll be just fine. We'll work it out." And then, as if suddenly realizing what she'd felt, she reacted. "Oh my goodness, you're freezing!"

I laughed self consciously and held up my hands in self defense. "It's fine. I just run a little on the cold side." Worst understatement I had ever made, I realized. But it seemed to calm her down a bit, though she still looked at me with a concerned eye. I suspected she was going to keep looking at me like that until she understood what was going on.

She then led me out of the guest room and offered to make me a hot beverage, so I asked her for hot chocolate with a touch of mint. I knew I shouldn't be drinking hot beverages, but I really couldn't resist hot chocolate. It was just too amazing to me to pass up. Soon she brought the drinks out, and she sat on the sofa across from the chair I sat in as I placed my drink on the coffee table to cool a bit. Even I wasn't stupid enough to drink it at full heat.

"So, why do they call it the Fae and Human Relations Society?" she asked me as she took a sip of her tea.

"Because they send fairies out to stay with humans so both races can learn about each other."

She turned and regarded me with a very strange look, almost like she thought I was crazy for having said such a thing. I supposed I couldn't blame her. I probably would have thought so if I'd been in her shoes.

"F-Fairies?" she said. "You mean, real fairies?" I nodded, and then she pointed at me and said, "Then you are-?"

"A real fairy, yes," I finished for her. I waited for her to respond, but before she could find words to say, her teacup fell out of her hand and spilled all over the floor. It was then that I realized just how long of a day this was going to be. It had started out weird, but it was only going to get weirder.

_**Hope you enjoyed my silly story. If you'd like to review, that would be awesome, but what you do is up to you. If you review though, you can suggest scenes you'd like to see Jack get into, and I'll probably incorporate a lot of them into the story since I'm still trying to come up with things for him to get himself into, haha.**_

_**Anyway, see you all next time, and thanks for reading! I really appreciate it!**_


End file.
